Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia, lost to Democratic incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock in the duo’s head-to-head runoff election Tuesday night.
Walker conceded on election night, and Warnock currently leads the race by roughly 100,000 votes in the unofficial count.
Walker’s loss is the latest development in a string of bad news for former president Donald Trump. Walker’s campaign asked Trump to stay away from the race in the final days before the Nov. 8th election, and the runoff was no different as Trump, like president Joe Biden, kept his distance from the race.
Trump also declared his 2024 campaign for the presidency before the end of the Georgia election, much to the chagrin of Republican operatives. A former Trump advisor is now questioning his decision-making.
“Frankly, he should have waited [to launch his campaign until] after the Georgia contest was decided,” said Michael Biundo, a national Republican strategist who served as an adviser to Trump in 2016, told NBC News. “To me, the rollout seemed rushed and incomplete. I give it a D-minus.”
How Walker’s loss affects Trump’s presidential momentum remains to be seen.
The official account is still underway in Georgia, and the state has yet to certify the election.
[NBC News]
